Thir13en Ghosts II: Gates of Hell
by DreamADream
Summary: It seems too far-fetched to be true! Could it be? Dennis Rafkin is back?
1. Chapter One: Bring Me the Body of Denni...

CHAPTER ONE  
BRING ME THE BODY OF DENNIS RAFKIN  
  
  
Calista Drover stood in the basement of a familiar glass mansion, which now lay in ruins, gazing down at the lifeless body of a young man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. Her face held a blank expression, as she knelt down beside him, picking up a pair of obscure, clear-framed glasses--glasses which were used to see the dead. She put the glasses in her vest pocket, then frowned as she glanced back down at the limp body. He appeared as if he had been dead for several hours, and his face was still twisted in fear--his eyes still wide open, dried blood smeared across his temples and down to his chin.  
"Dennis..." She whispered, mournfully. Her eyes grew dim as she placed her hand gently on top of his left shoulder blade. Suddenly, horrible visons began flashing before her very eyes, and her body twitched and shook, violently, just as Dennis' had when ever people touched him. She saw what had happened--All of it. She saw back into the very first day when Cyrus Kriticos had called Dennis on the telephone, persuading him to help him on his little "ghost hunt", which landed Dennis into loads upon loads of misery. She saw how Dennis was deceived by his "friend", Cyrus, and how he was cheated out of his money--"Soul Money" as Calista referred to it as. More and more visions flew past in her mind; Visions of the twelve ghosts; Visions of the Kriticos family: Arthur, Kathy, Bobby, and their nanny, Maggie; Visions of Dennis nobly agreeing to help them get out alive, and him sacrificing himself for another man. A tear ran down Calista's face, as the pain she had endured through the visions caused her to jerk back. She had seen a side of Dennis that she had never seen before. She had seen into his memory, his soul, his caring and heroic nature, which he hid through his seemingly troubled, pessimistic, morose demeanor.  
Another tear hurried down her cheek as she unsteadily rose to her feet. She wiped her face, trembling, fighting back the intense emotion that would surely follow if she didn't pull herself together. iI've got to stop/i, she thought. iI'll just do what I came here to do, and that's all./i Just then, a static voice rang out through her radio, which was tucked snugly inside its leather hold.  
"Calista? You there? What the hell's going on?" The voice asked, sounding slightly temperamental. "Did you find Rafkin?" Calista reached down, pulling her radio out of its case, and held it up to her trembling lips.  
"Affirmative." She replied.  
  
Outside, two men were waiting by a blue Toyota, as Calista could be seen approaching them from a distance. One of the men (Emanuel) looked around the age of thirty. He wore all black, and had messy, dark-brown hair up to his shoulders, and beautiful, dark green eyes, which glistened beneath the silver moonlight. The other man was black, and stood about 6'3" with short, scruffy black hair, a gray jean vest, and black pants which went down to his enormous, black steel-toed boots.  
"Calista!" The black man, Tray, shouted. "Where's Rafkin? I thought you said you found him!"  
"Yes, I did." Calista said. "He's dead..."  
"What?! So we came all this fuckin' way--"  
"You're going to take him out of there." Calista interrupted, sternly. Both men looked at eachother.  
"Excuse me. I'm sorry!" Tray laughed in disbelief. "I thought you said that you wanted us to go in there and take him out of--"  
"I did."  
"What?!" Tray exclaimed. "There is no fuckin' way in hell I'm going in there, Cal! iEspecially/i to risk my neck for some motherfucker who's already dead!"  
Calista's eyes narrowed on Tray, furiously.  
  
Moments later, Calista, Tray, and Emanuel are inside the ruin, down in the basement where Calista had found Dennis Rafkin's dead body. The glass--that were once the walls which held the barrier spells--were now shattered pieces that hailed the ground. iSuch a waste of money/i, Calista thought, leading her two partners around a corner and directly to the body. At the first glance, Tray became hysterical.  
"Oh, fuck nah!" He shouted. "That motherfucker's long dead! I think we should just leave him here. Look at him!"   
"No!" Calista snapped. "We are going to get him out of here."  
"What?! Are you crazy?! Look at him, Cal!"  
"I see him..." Calista replied. "Now pick him up. Both of you!"Emanuel let out a sigh, and obediently followed her command. Emanuel had been in love with Calista ever since he first laid eyes on her. She was intelligent, unique, artistic, fun, and so much more. He just didn't understand why she cared so much about taking a dead man from his grave. What ever happened to "Rest in pieces"?  
Tray rubbed the back of his neck and moaned. "Aw, Alright..." He agreed. "Let's lift this son-of-a-bitch." Reluctantly, he bent down and wrapped his arms around Rafkin, slowly lifting him. Emanuel took Rafkin's feet, and together they made their way through the basement, up to the first story, and outside to the truck. From there, they placed his body in the back of the truck, and drove off into the night. 


	2. Chapter Two: Live

CHAPTER TWO  
  
Live  
  
  
  
The sky grew cloudy as the night progressed, as a Severe Storm Warning drew near. Rain drizzled, thunder roared, and lightning came, then vanished, as the atmosphere grew cold and wet. It was as if Mother Nature was trying to inform the world about something... Something terrible. Calista Drover sat on the velvet, black couch in her livingroom, flipping through pages of an ancient book. It looked quite similar to the book that Kalina had gained all of her knowledge from in Thir13en Ghosts; The book that told of the Black Zodiac, and a machine designed by the Devil and powered by the dead, only it wasn't the same book. It was something different--much different. The words were inscribed in an old Archaic Language, that today, nobody would even know of, for it had died those thousands of years ago. Yet somehow, Calista could read and understand it as if she'd been born during the age itself. The language was known as "Devil Tongue", for those who dared to speak it were said to be speaking from the Devil himself. The book, itself, wasn't evil. It was the way that the possessor employed it. Calista, however, would never dare practice the Black Arts, for she was in fact a pure, good-hearted person, and for the first time in her life, she was about to perform a spell of such incredible magnitude, that the very thought of it terrified her--A spell that would be considered "God's Work" or "Playing God". She didn't want to do it, but she knew that she had to. Calista narrowed her eyes on a page which comprised of several unusual, cryptic illustrations--Slightly different in each, were images of a shadow figure, being held in the colossal arms of a gigantic man. Calista inhaled deeply, moving off the couch and onto the floor, as she approached Dennis Rafkin's lifeless body, which had been laying on the ground across the room from her the entire time. His eyes were closed now. Tray had insisted on closing them, since he was too cowardly to gaze into the eyes of a dead man. What Calista did next appeared nearly incomprehensible. From the pocket of her vest, she removed what looked like a tiny, bronze sword keychain, until she pulled it apart, and from the blade end, a sharp, pointy razor stuck out. The sound nearly vibrated as she pulled the two ends apart, and the tiny razor hummed, eerily. Calista laid the book down beside her, as she took Dennis' hand in hers, rotating his arm just a bit, until his bottom wrist faced upward. Visions began racing through Calista's head--Painful, horrifying visions. Calista fought back the urge to throw her arm back, and instead, sliced Dennis' wrist, quickly and slightly. It just barely slit the skin, yet blood from the dead man began to ooze, slowly, taking its time, as if it wanted to remain inside of him forever. Calista dropped his arm and, and it hit the ground with a spine- chilling thump. Calista's heart raced as she held her arm high into the air. She inhaled, deeply, as the horrible visions left her for now, until she did the unexpected. She held the razor up to her wrist, closed her eyes, and with all her will, she ran it across. She let out a blood- curdling scream, and then it was over. Calista became a little light-headed. She wasn't sure if it was because she was knelt beside corpse of a man she once knew, or because she had slit her own wrist, but she had to go through with the rest of her "mission". "You're going to live again." She whispered to Dennis, softly as she laid her bloody wrist delicately on top of his. She cringed, and wanted to vomit, but resisted the urge and began to chant words in Latin, as the terrifying visions returned once more, and this time... they hit her worse than before. 


	3. Chapter Three: To Hell and Back

[ C H A P T E R 3 ] TO HELL AND BACK  
  
Lighting ripped through the black heavens, causing Calista to awaken from her trance. The moment had felt like eternity, as she sat there, wearily on her knees beside Dennis. She glanced down at him, awaiting a reaction. 'Is he alive?' she wondered. The moment stretched on and on, and still... nothing. She closed her eyes in sorrow and took a deep breath. Just then:  
  
Dennis shot up, abruptly, screaming as if he had woken up from a horrific nightmare. Calista jumped back in shock, a shrill scream escaping through her lips as she gazed upon the unexpected. He's alive?! she thought, astonished. I really did it? She couldn't help by watch helplessly as Dennis got on his hands and knees, staggering around like a wounded animal. He began to cough and wheeze, as if he were suffocating. Calista's eyes lit up in horror. "Dennis!" She cried and insantly, everything stopped. Dennis was still, bent over and breathing heavily. Calista lowered her eyebrows, sadly, as she crawled up beside him and observed for a moment. "Dennis..." She whispered, sympathetically. She couldn't stand seeing him like this. Calista placed her hand gently on top of his back, instinctively, being it in her heart to nurture. Dennis pannicked, and drew himself back.  
  
"No!" He choked out. "Don't touch me!" Calista appeared a little taken back, but understood what he must've been going through. Dennis quivered, glancing down at his arms and his hands. The gash where the Hammer had struck him (in the movie) was healed completely, as if it had never happened, except for the remains of dried blood. He was confused and terrified, for he had absolutely no idea where he was or how he got there. All he knew was that he had died, and he had gone to Hell.  
  
Dennis noticed two tiny hands beside his, tempted to touch him, but kept their fair distance. His eyes journeyed upward, until he found himself gazing up into Calista's sad, gray eyes. He couldn't help but wonder why she was there, why he was there, and how the hell he got back (alive again, no pun intended). He had so many questions for her, but fear held them back. He was still traumatized from all that had happened.  
  
Calista slowly rose to her feet and walked off. "Wait..." Dennis whispered, but Calista was already out of the room. His heart hurt more than ever for the first time in his life, and once again, he was alone. His eyes grew dim as tears escaped, moving gradually down his cheek and onto the floor. His mind wandered, as Calista reappeared with a bowl of hot water and a cloth. Dennis quickly turned his head. He didn't want her to see him cry, but she had seen it already in his mind. Calista knelt beside him, dipping the cloth into the bowl of water. "Look at me." She said, softly, but Dennis refused. "Dennis, look at me." She repeated. When Dennis continued to ignore her, she placed her hand on his chin and turned his face toward her. Her heart melted as she saw tears streaming down his cheeks. She pulled her hand away quickly, so that Dennis wouldn't panic again. She knew about his seizures, and his paranoia about people touching him, so she tried to be as careful as possible.  
  
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.  
  
"You grew since the last time I saw you." Calista finally remarked with a smile, dabbing the moist cloth on Dennis' temple. Dennis sat up a little.  
  
"So have you." He replied. It felt awkward being where he was, in an unfamiliar house with a girl he used to know.  
  
Dennis and Calista went way back... They had gone to the same high school together, and had some of the same classes. Through the first two years they hadn't talked much, except when Calista would turn to Dennis and ask him a question about square-roots, or about the human body--When they were in Human Anatomy together Junior year. Dennis was always the outcast, and Calista was just a girl that he'd seen from afar, and sometimes up close, and sometimes not at all.  
  
Dennis was absent frequently, and as a result he was put on credit review by the school, even though he had one of the highest GPA's. His mother couldn't afford college, and since he was put on credit review, it blew all the chances he ever had of earning a scholarship. So basically, he was fucked. He had no future. When Dennis' mother died during the end of senior year, he couldn't take it anymore, so he moved to a little town outside of Willow Grove--the town where Cyrus Kriticos had lived and worked. Dennis had no father, either. His father died when he was just a baby, and after the death of his mother around his 18th birthday, Dennis became a lonely orphan. He had nobody. No family, no friends. He was truly alone, and he knew it. It was his curse; The curse that allowed him to see things... horrible things. He could see deep down into a person's most painful memories. He'd feel their pain, their suffering, and the worst part of it all... He couldn't help it.  
  
Dennis found that the best way to escape the pain was by avoiding people, or at least avoiding coming in contact with them. He knew that if anybody touched him, he'd be sucked into their past, and when he'd snap back into reality, he'd be left with another scar for life.  
  
The only person that ever bothered speaking to Dennis was Calista. She knew about his curse, and she accepted him for it, but Dennis never saw it. They were acquaintances, who moved a level up and became "friends", although Dennis, being the paranoid human being that he was, never saw this as "friendship". He wasn't sure what it was, but it was the only thing in his life that wasn't horrible. In reality, Calista was fascinated by Dennis. He captivated her interest and expanded her mind. It was when he moved away that she began to study the supernatural, and it was when he moved away that she began to change...  
  
Time flew by as Calista continued to clean the dried blood off of Dennis' face. He kept his focus on her the entire time, and he couldn't help but wonder, Why is she doing this? Dennis loosened up a bit, and finally began to speak.  
  
"What happened?" Dennis asked after minutes of dead silence. "How did I get here?"  
  
"Tray and Emanuel helped me take you out of that house. I told them to bring you here. Wait'll they see that you're alive. Tray's gonna shit." Calista answered, bluntly. Dennis shook his head.  
  
"N-No. No! How did I get here! Why the fuck am I alive, man! I was dead! I died back there in that house!" He uttered sharply.  
  
"Well, I... brought you back."  
  
"Brought me back?" He said, sounding out of breath. "Wh--How?"  
  
Calista looked down at the book which lay beside Dennis. "With that." Dennis followed Calista's gaze.  
  
"You used Black Magic?" He asked, surprised. His entire mood began to change, drastically.  
  
"No! It isn't Black Magic..." Calista insisted. "It's..." Dennis waited for a response, but instead Calista just stood up. "Be right back!" She told him as she hurried from the room. Dennis raised an eyebrow, and moments later Calista returned with fresh, clean clothes. They appeared to be brand-new, and looked like something that Dennis would've picked out himself. "I figured that you wouldn't want to stay in those raggedy clothes forever, now would you?" Calista asked with a smirk. For the first time since his death, Dennis smiled.  
  
"Unbelievable..." he murmured. 


End file.
